Environment
The fungus yartsa gunbu, which grows by turning caterpillars into zombies, is prized in traditional medicine, but its harvest is having an increased ecological impact on its native Himalayan home
By Adam Popescu
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Harvesting yartsa gunbu provides an income for many people in Nepal
Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD
The hunt for a fungus that is worth more than its weight in gold as a traditional medicine is transforming the Himalayan landscape on which it grows. To learn more, I have come to the Sowa Rigpa Institute of Traditional Medicine in Kathmandu, Nepal, where I am watching the preparation of a tea made from yartsa gunbu, a “cure-all” fungus that may be the world’s most expensive natural resource.
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